Jack Daniels virtual reality tour of the distillery

I’ve been on dozens of distillery tours, but shamefully Jack Daniels isn’t one of them. Thankfully there’s now a Jack Daniels virtual reality tour to tide me over until I make it down to Tennessee. It’s a pretty impressive experience using YouTube360 and FaceBook 360. Maybe they’re actually useful platforms after all.

Jack Daniels virtual reality tour spits hot fire

The video puts you front and center for a cruise over Lynchburg. I started looking around at the lovely hills and ended up holding “right” and pretending like I was spinning out of control. You then get to check out their water source (a bragging point for most distilleries), watch palates burn to make charcoal, and duck for cover as a cooper fires off sparks while working on barrels.

You end up at the top of the rickhouse with Master Distiller Jeff Arnett and some ghosts who appear to be having a pretty good time. All in all not a bad use of a few minutes.

There will be a full blown goggled version available at special events like Lollapalooza this summer for those of you who really want to feel like you’ve been teleported to the Volunteer State. The Jack Daniels virtual reality video definitely won’t replace a trip to the distillery, or any distillery for that matter, but it’s a pretty fun look for those who haven’t been there.

It’s also a very clever way of advertising, as evidenced by me being compelled to share it.

Colin Joliat is the brains behind this rinky-dink operation. He covers the alcohol industry with two parts information, one part comedy, and one part WTF is wrong with this guy. He's written for Brobible, Guyism, Thrillist, CoolMaterial, Craft, and more.